Green IT Innovation – Data Center Efficiencies to Reduce Carbon Footprint – Part 2.

Access to Renewably-Generated Electricity – A Key Criterion for your next Data Center. 

Part 1 of this series discussed server consolidation as a way to help reduce your company’s carbon footprint.  This article examines the role green electricity plays in your Data Center site selection.

Electricity is the most important energy resource your Data Center (DC) will need for operations.  At the company where I helped lead Green IT efforts, one of our typical DCs consumed $650,000 of electricity each year (more than 13 million kilowatts) and, like every DC; we needed a reliable source because you never want to be running off your uninterruptable power supplies (UPS) or diesel generators very long. Add in your goal to minimize greenhouse gas emissions and you begin to understand the challenge that finding the right location can pose.  

There are many choices for green electricity generation: Wind, solar, biomass and geothermal. However, hydro-electricity is, hands down, your best current option. Of all the renewably-generated electricity in the U.S., 71% of it is hydroelectric. According to the Renewables 2007 Global Status Report, (produced in collaboration with the Worldwatch Institute and REN21), Hydro makes up fully 15% of all electricity generation globally and is the clear leader in cost at 3-4 U.S. cents/kilowatt-hour.

Finding a data center site that offers access to hydroelectric is not as difficult as it might seem.  An article on the website ExpansionManagement.com reveals, “Microsoft evaluated communities around the world against 31 criteria important for locating a data center and Quincy (in central Washington) ranked at the top, said Michael Manos, senior director of the company’s data center operations.” 

Google, Ask.com, AT&T and several other companies have also chosen this area because, in addition to low risk of natural disaster and access to multiple Internet fiber trunks, central Washington is close to five hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River offering virtually unlimited, inexpensive and green electricity. Hydro does have some drawbacks (dams can cause ecological damage to fish, wildlife, land and even humans – who are affected when upstream land is flooded), but recent innovations in hydroelectric are enabling generation without dams.

As computer and Internet usage continues to rise worldwide, companies will build more data centers and consume more electricity.  By keeping renewably-generated electricity as part of your new site criteria, we can all help to minimize the potential global warming effects of this growth.

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Next time: “Greening Up your Data Center from the Inside Out.”